Comfort and Confessions
by NadiaBliss
Summary: Annie is very upset and Jeff does what he can to try and make her feel better. A sweet little idea that's been in my head for a while.


Annie stood with her arms folded staring into the fridge. Her stomach was growling and her eyes were stinging from the crying she had been doing earlier in the night. The fridge had very little in it, half empty milk, a container of spaghetti sauce, leftover noodles, three apples, leftover fastfood of Troy's, some cookie dough and a shelf full of assorted condiments. It was depressing.

She grabbed the cookie dough and knew already she had no desire to spend twenty minutes cooking. Somebody knocked on the door and startled her. She hated that there was little security and people always had the door propped open.

"It's Jeff." He said

Annie sighed. "What do you want?"

"I brought you dinner."

She wanted to be annoyed at him, she was annoyed with the world. She didn't want to open the door not least because she was wearing baggy pajama bottoms and one of Troy's loose shirts. Her hair was a mess, she had no makeup on.

"What kind of dinner?" She asked walking towards the closed door.

"The expensive kind."

She opened the door and he stood there tall and handsome in a dark jacket and stylish jeans, he offered a sympathy smile. He handed her a bag that smelled delicious and looked full. He had one in his other hand too.

"Want some company?" He asked

"No," Annie mumbled, looking down at the food and saw it was from Jeff's favourite steakhouse, the most expensive one in Greendale.

"You sure?" He said subtly waving the bag of food toward her.

.

They sat at the table silently as Annie opened up all the different containers in her bag and was trying to figure out how many meals she could get out of this.

"I didn't know what you'd like."

"Anything. Thanks. This'll be my dinner for the next four nights." She was too exhausted to think about what was happening here, but she found that was a good thing because the meal went by smoothly but quietly. Annie wasn't trying to hide how she was feeling, but she wasn't trying to get sympathy either. Jeff looked so handsome. She found that was easier to think about than everything else going on. He really was good-looking. It was Saturday evening and he was here bringing her food and having dinner with her. He was wearing a dark button-up with rolled up sleeves.

"So." He said when they both finished up and before Annie could get up and away. "What's going on?"

She sighed and deflated. "Nothing really."

"Clearly it's not nothing,"

Annie hung her head and shook it, trying to hold back her tears. It wasn't working. She brought her hand to her eyes, knowing Jeff hated tears.

.

He couldn't stand to see her so upset. She sat there, small and sunken in the chair, covering her face in tears. What on earth could she be so sad about? As uncomfortable as he was, he didn't want her to be sad. The thought of her crying at all made him sad, and the thought of her crying all alone was even worse. He quickly stood up and pulled a chair up next to her and put his arm gently around her shoulder, she didn't react to his touch at first, but after a few moments she leaned onto his chest and started crying even more.

She cried for a while, but eventually her breathing began to slow and she was taking deep breaths.

"I'm sorry," came her tearful voice as she pulled away and turned from him.

"Don't be sorry." He was so unsure about what to do, "Is there anything I can do?" He offered

She shook her head and quickly got up and began clearing the table with determination. He sat there meekly, just watching her. She was trying to distract herself, he guessed. She divided up her various meals in the kitchen and put them in the old and very empty-looking fridge.

"Annie, please talk to me."

She put her hands on the counter and faced him.

.

Jeff was now standing and he looked so uncomfortable. Annie was beyond embarrassed and she just wanted him to leave. "You don't want me to talk."

"Yes I do."

"Jeff! You clearly have somewhere to be. It's not—! If I really got into everything, I'd be talking all night." She folded her arms. "I don't want to talk because it's not going to change anything and you don't want to listen to me complain." She walked to the door, taking a breath, trying not to sound frustrated or upset. "Thank-you for the dinner, and for the extra food, I'm not too proud to admit our food budget doesn't get us far. Thank-you for letting me cry on you. Thank-you for trying." He walked towards her and the door, he looked genuinely concerned. "I just want to go to bed."

He nodded quietly and she exhaled. "If you ever want to talk," He said looking right into her eyes.

Annie nodded, forcing a smile as they leaned in for a hug. Holding him, and feeling him hold her tight made her sad as well. Being so close, her heart was pounding and she was unable to hold in her emotions again. She sniffled as discreetly as she could, but it was no use.

"Annie," Jeff whispered

She shook her head, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Jeff held her shoulders and looked down at her. "'m sorry I can't make you feel better."

Annie felt a real smile as she shook her head as if to say 'it's okay'.

.

Just then the door opened and Annie yelped in pain, then collapsed onto the ground holding her foot. A surprised looking Abed and Troy were standing there and Jeff knelt down.

"Oh my god! Annie, I'm so sorry!" Troy said loudly.

"Are you okay?"

The most miserable-sounding "No," escaped Annie's mouth. Jeff saw her foot was bleeding quite a bit and she was twisting her face in pain. "Get the first aid kit!" Annie said to none of them in particular but Abed bounced off quickly and returned with the largest first aid kit Jeff had ever seen.

"Annie, do you want to go to the emergency room?" Jeff asked.

"I'm fine, you guys. I can clean it up myself."

Half an hour later, Jeff was sitting on the floor in the hall as Annie finished cleaning up and sticky-stitching her cut together. Abed had gone out again and Troy was in his room on his bunk watching them both not-so-discreetly. She had been remarkably calm and seemed to have switched totally into nurse-mode when dealing with her foot. It looked very painful, and must have stung when she disinfected it, he couldn't help but admire her poise. He also couldn't help feeling horrible for the fact that he was glad she wasn't crying anymore. She didn't seem so sad, when she obviously was and this was just another reason to be.

"You can go Jeff. I'm fine." She stood up and tentatively put pressure on her foot, but didn't get very far.

"You're not fine, you can't walk on it."

She exhaled but stayed quiet.

"Come on." He said, holding out his arms.

"What?"

"I'm going to take you to your room."

"I don't need—"

But he scooped her up so easily and cut her off. He liked having her in his arms like this, and he found the urge to kiss her overwhelming. He wanted to kiss her gently, which surprised him. He wanted to hold her and cuddle and smother her with his affection and he found himself freaking out for a split second because these feelings were usually so well hidden inside him that even _he_ forgot about them sometimes.

But they were there. He gently put her down next to her bed and she exhaled and smiled.

"Thanks." She breathed.

Jeff nodded. "And I mean it. You can talk to me about anything, okay?"

He heard her sigh and it seemed like she was going to say something. She sat on her bed delicately.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

Annie looked down at her foot, "What are you going to do when you finish at Greendale?"

This question surprised him a little, and it surprised him that he didn't really know.

"Go back to being a lawyer," He said, eyeing her. "What about you?"

"You're going to go back to being that person everyone, including yourself, hates?" She asked, ignoring his question.

He raised his eyebrows, "I don't have much of a choice."

Annie nodded once, he could tell she wasn't happy about this. Annie then began shuffling around, "I want to sleep now. See you on Monday."

Jeff left her room with a twisted expression from the last bit of information from a confusing night. He looked around the apartment to see if he could do or clean anything. Troy was sitting on the chairs.

"D'you guys have a fun night?" He asked suspiciously.

"Troy," He said, knowing what he was insinuating. "She's pretty upset about some stuff."

"Yeah," Troy sighed. "She's been kind of moody lately. I thought it had something to do with you know, womanly problems ... but ..."

"Did you ever think it might be something you and your boyfriend are doing?" He snapped.

"She said that?"

Jeff shook his head and looked down, "No. Just … try and be nice to her. Be considerate. She does a lot for you guys, and everyone in the group. And all that food in the fridge is hers."

"There's food?" Troy perked up like a dog

"Not for you."

.

"Jeff," Troy said, he stood by the counter now. Jeff was standing almost out the door. "Do you _like_ Annie?"

He literally felt his heart flip. This was not an expected question, and he was not prepared. Though he managed to hide his surprise and nerves. Jeff's expression didn't change, he looked right at him and couldn't think of anything to say. He couldn't even manage to sputter a convincing 'no'. He blinked. Then turned to the door, opened it, and left without a word.

.

**Please let me know what you think! I just had a vague idea that needed to be written down (you know how it is). I also have a vague idea of how it would continue ... tell me if you're interested! :)**


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